Sparks Fly
by Miss Lavender Sky
Summary: Annie and Jeff have been trying to ignore what's happened. But when they're stuck together, what will it lead to?


A/N: Okay, this is the first one of these I've done, and I warn you, I wrote this while I was rather tired, so I'm not entirely sure how well it turned out. But it would make me happy if you'd read it and let me know!

**By the way, this is set sometime in Season 2. Wintertime, Season 2. So there you go.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Community, Jeff and Annie would already be together. And there would be more than one new episode a week. Also, I don't own the song ("Sparks Fly" by Taylor Swift).**

Sparks Fly

_Drop everything now._

_Meet me in the pouring rain._

_Kiss me on the sidewalk._

_Take away the pain._

'_Cause I see sparks fly_

_Whenever you smile._

_Get me with those green eyes, baby,_

_As the lights go down._

_Give me something that'll haunt me_

_When you're not around._

'_Cause I see sparks fly_

_Whenever you smile._

"And I need you guys in groups. I don't really care how big. I suppose three people constitute as a group, and so does ten. But not eleven, because let's face it, when you get that many people working together, it's not a group, it's a massacre waiting to happen."

The class blinked at their fill-in Anthropology professor, Ian Duncan.

"Uh, right," said the man, after a few moments of silence had passed. "So just, uh, get together then, and the project will be due in my office the last day before winter break. Got it?"

The class nodded.

"Okay, then, off you go, off you go now, go away," Duncan said.

The class got up and left.

"Okay, so we just need to do a project on how a group works together," said Annie, once everyone was sitting down in the study room.

"Wait, this is a _research_ _paper_?" Jeff asked from his spot at the end of the table.

Annie looked at him. "Jeff, he said that, like, four times. Were you even listening during class?"

Jeff frowned. "No. I haven't been awake in that class for the last three weeks."

"What's wrong, Jeffery?" asked Shirley. "Are you not getting enough sleep at night?"

"No, I'm getting enough sleep, Shirley, don't worry," Jeff said, trying to wave away her concerns before they grew out of proportion. "I'm just-"

"Trying to keep a new girl entertained every night?" offered Britta with a smirk. Jeff frowned at her.

"No, that's not it!" said Pierce. "That would mean that a different girl would want to sleep with Jeff every night."

"Oh, burn!" Troy shouted, giving Pierce a fist-bump.

Jeff sighed. "Look, guys-"

"This is the part where Jeff's going to try and shift the attention off of him and back onto the project, which seems meaningless now, but will probably end up making him deal with the problem he's trying to avoid," said Abed.

"Really, Abed?" Jeff asked.

"It's just a typical episode arc," Abed replied.

"Okay, guys, seriously, whatever Jeff's problems are, we'll figure them out eventually," said Annie. "But we really do need to figure out this project. It's due in a week!"

"Annie, sweetie, you need to calm down about this, it's not that big of a deal," Shirley said, her eyebrows going up, but forgetting about Jeff's problems, which had been the intent.

"Sorry," Annie said, ignoring her need to explain herself. "But we really should get to work on this, yeah?"

The groups grumbled their assent.

"Okay, so I know Troy and Abed have a weekend trip or something planned," said Britta.

"Yeah, me and Abed are going to go see a big movie marathon thing over at this theater that looks like a spaceship on the inside," said Troy.

Abed nodded. "It's showing all of the Star Wars movies, plus filmmakers take on what the Star Wars movies would look like if you actually were standing in a space ship the whole time."

"Okay," said Annie, shaking her head. "So we can't do it this weekend."

"What about next week? Anyone busy?" said Jeff.

"Um, I've got to chaperone the boys' field trips on Tuesday and Wednesday," said Shirley.

"I have a Level-Six meeting for my Buddhist community on Thursday," said Pierce.

"So Monday?" Annie asked.

"Oh no, I promised a friend I'd help them with their protest on Monday night," said Britta.

"Wait, people are busy _all_ week?" Annie said. "How are we supposed to do this?"

Jeff shushed her. "Just calm down. Look, it's Friday, so the study rooms are open late, so we'll just stay until we finish tonight. It'll get done."

Annie exhaled. "Yeah, I guess that'll work then."

Jeff turned to the group. "Will that work for everyone?"

The group nodded, and they got to work.

About three hours later, Shirley stood up. "I'm sorry, you guys, but I really need to go. The boys are sitting at home, and the babysitter can only stay ten minutes more. I have to get home."

"Bye, Shirley!" said Britta. "Have a good weekend with them."

"Thank you, Britta!" Shirley said, grinning.

"Bye!" she said to the rest of the group, and they waved her goodbye and wished her a good weekend.

Next to leave was Pierce. "I have a new lady friend waiting for me back at the mansion," he said. "I can't keep her waiting too much longer now."

Jeff faked a yawn behind Pierce's back and mouthed "_bedtime"_ to Annie, and she giggled.

"What?" Pierce asked, looking at her. "You think that's funny?"

"Um, no," said Annie, turning pink. "I was just going to say, uh, have a good time, Pierce."

"Thank you," Pierce said, smiling, immediately pacified.

Another half an hour went by before Troy and Abed stood up. "We've got to go too," said Troy. "We have to leave at like nine or something tomorrow morning."

"We're leaving at five," said Abed.

"Five? What?" Troy squeaked. "You didn't tell me that!"

"Yes, I did," said Abed. "You used that same voice that you use when you're mad that makes you sound like a girl that you said I couldn't tell anyone about."

"Dude!" Troy shook his head. "Well, if we're leaving at five, then I need to get some sleep tonight."

"That's not what you said," said Abed. "You said we needed to leave Jeff and-"

"I didn't say that," said Troy, putting his hand over Abed's mouth.

He took his hand off. "Alone," said Abed, finishing his sentence.

Troy laughed nervously. "Um, well, uh, we have to go, so, uh, we'll see you Monday," he said, dragging Abed out the door.

"Well, that was weird," said Britta.

"It's Abed," said Jeff. "Do you really expect anything else?"

"True," said Britta. She turned to Annie. "Okay, so what are we still missing?"

"Well, we basically have the different types of personalities that usually exist in a group- the mother, the father, the old soul, the immature one, the strange one, the sensitive one, the confident one. And then we have the overall group ideologies, and now we're just looking at smaller pairings and trios within the group."

"So, are we almost done?" asked Britta.

"Yeah, only maybe thirty minutes more," Annie said.

Britta looked at her watch and swore.

"What? Hot date?" Jeff asked.

"Yes," said Britta. "Which I am now late for."

"You can go if you need to Britta. You too, Jeff. I can just finish up this last little part if you guys want to get home," Annie said.

"I want to see it through to the end, though," said Britta. "I'd feel bad if I left it to you, Annie."

"Don't worry about it, Britta. It's nothing," Annie said. "Now go have fun!"

Britta grinned at her. "Thanks, Annie." She grabbed her bag.

"Aren't you going too?" Annie asked Jeff.

Jeff shook his head. "Nah. I don't have anywhere to be tonight, so I'll just make sure it gets done."

Britta nodded and waved a quick goodbye to the two remaining.

They worked in silence for a minute.

"So," said Jeff eventually. "We've got what on this section?"

"Well, it's just the subgroups within a group," said Annie. "Let's see the book says that there's the one who's major focus won't be within the group, but on responsibilities elsewhere, like the dad who has to work all the time."

"Or like a mom who has to skip out early because her sons are home alone?" Jeff asked.

Annie smiled. "Yeah, like that." She paused, reading more. "And then there's the one that will always work harder than everyone else to be a part of the group, who'll say things for approval."

"Like a guy who says he has to go entertain 'lady friends' instead of saying he's tired?" Jeff asked.

Annie shook her head at him, but grinned anyway. "There's the best friends- there's always two in a group that tend to stick together more than any of the rest of them, so that they begin to develop their own habits and actions."

"Hmm," said Jeff. "Can't think of anyone we know…"

Annie laughed. "And there's the one who balances everyone, and makes sure that the group dynamics are relatively stable. Okay, I guess that'd be like Britta."

"Um, no. That's not Britta," Jeff said.

"What? Why not?" asked Annie.

"Because it says that they make sure things are 'relatively stable.' How is a completely unstable person supposed to keep a group relatively stable?" Jeff asked.

Annie frowned at him. "Why are you so hard on her?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" asked Jeff.

"Well, I mean, you're always giving her these sarcastic little quips and saying all these things about her," said Annie.

"I do that to everyone," Jeff said.

"You give her an awful lot of attention," Annie said, smiling.

"I do not," said Jeff, frowning.

"You do!" said Annie. "And I know why! It's because you still like her, and you're trying to hide it. But you're just not doing a very good job of it."

"What?" asked Jeff. "You're crazy!"

"No, even the others think so too. I heard Shirley the other day, saying how clear it was that you were in love with someone, judging from the way that you look at her, and how much you talk to her. And then she stopped talking when I showed up," said Annie. "She didn't want me to hear her gossiping about you and Britta."

Jeff looked strained, and he didn't have an argument to defend himself, which meant that something was wrong.

"What?" Annie asked.

"Nothing," Jeff said.

"It's just- you seemed upset," said Annie.

They lapsed into silence for a minute, neither of them able to think of something to say.

"You know what? Can we just finish this tomorrow or something? It's only, like, another couple of sentences or something," said Jeff.

Annie looked at him, clearly still unnerved at whatever she had said, and nodded. "Sure," she said.

They gathered up their stuff and headed out the door.

"Didn't you park that way?" asked Annie, pointing in the opposite direction.

"I'll walk you to your car first," said Jeff. "Can't have you getting lost."

Annie smiled. "Thanks."

They walked down the hall and out the door, and seeing that it had begun to rain, Annie groaned.

They walked quickly towards her car, parked in the far parking lot.

She got there and said a quick goodbye to Jeff and was about to get in her car when he stopped her.

"Would it really not bother you if I was that into Britta?" Jeff shouted over the rain, which was now pounding down on the two of them.

"What?" Annie asked, spinning around to face him.

"Would you really not be upset?" Jeff asked, and for the first time in months, Annie saw the look of pain he'd been hiding all these months.

"It's your choice, Jeff," she said. "It's not up to me." She shrugged.

"I'm not asking whether or not it's up to you," Jeff said, a little sharply. "I'm asking if you would be upset if you found out that I was in love with Britta."

Annie looked at him, her eyes big, and he could see her waving between telling him and keeping the façade of the last few months up. "Just tell me," he said, this time a little gentler.

Annie nodded, ever so slightly. "Maybe…maybe a little."

He looked at her. "I want you to tell me how you really feel. I can't stand this back and forth that we've been hiding this whole time. And I can't stand the thought of you sitting there, deciding it's a good idea for me to date someone to help you hide it more!" he shouted.

She frowned and shouted back, "Who are you to make me tell you everything? Why is it all about me saying everything, just so I can be the one who gets trampled on again, so I can be the one who gets treated like the little kid, so I can be the one whose feelings can be tossed aside, because I'm the one who said them?"

Jeff stared at her. "That's what you have a problem with? You want other people to talk for you? Fine, I will. You're too scared to admit what you know is true, so you want everyone else to say it for you."

"_I'm_ the one who has problems, Jeff?" Annie scowled. "I'm not the one who can never say how they're feeling! I'm not the one who doesn't understand how that kills people, when they have no idea what you're thinking!"

"How can I tell you what I'm thinking when you want to make it seem like we're barely even friends? How am I supposed to say that I love you?" Jeff yelled back, this time over the roar of the wind accompanying the rain.

"You just do! You don't hide it! You don't leave someone to guess! You show them!" Annie shouted back, nearly in tears.

Jeff stared at her for a moment and then kissed her, a kiss more than they'd shared before, but still reminiscent of those earlier times.

When it was over, they both just stared at each other.

"You know, I still want to be mad at you," said Annie. "I want to say that you shouldn't have pretended you didn't care about me that whole time, that you shouldn't have made yourself look away." She paused. "But I can't. Because I love you too."

And she kissed him back.

_Drop everything now._

_Meet me in the pouring rain._

_Kiss me on the sidewalk._

_Take away the pain._

'_Cause I see sparks fly_

_Whenever you smile._

_Get me with those green eyes, baby,_

_As the lights go down._

_Give me something that'll haunt me_

_When you're not around._

'_Cause I see sparks fly_

_Whenever you smile._

**A/N: So, what'd you think? **


End file.
